1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a suction cup for body fat reduction, for reducing subcutaneous fat at a part of the body where fat reduction is desired.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, there has been widely known suction therapy that removes blood congestion in an affected area by decompressing an inside area of a suction cup, known as a sucker or a suction ball, with an open end thereof tightly attached to the affected area so that the suction cup sucks in the affected area, wherein the decompression is carried out by using a vacuum pump etc. or bringing alcohol etc. to combustion inside the suction cup to reduce the air or oxygen within the cup.
A cosmetic body fat reduction method that employs the suction therapy and draws dissipation of unnecessary subcutaneous fat by letting the suction cup suck in a part of the body with excessive subcutaneous fat where fat reduction is desired, e.g. a belly part, has also been proposed.
A demand for a more substantial fat reduction effect always exists with any cosmetic body fat reduction method, and so it does with the body fat reduction method using the suction cup.
However, the fat reduction effects caused by existing suction cups are not substantial enough, because every existing suction cup is made of a glass material or a rigid plastic material and the part of the body where fat reduction is desired, the part of the body defined by the open end of the suction cup, is allowed to move only in an inward direction of the suction cup when the inside area of the suction cup is decompressed.
The object of the present invention is to provide a suction cup for body fat reduction which is expected to bring about a more substantial fat reduction effect than the existing suction cups as referred to above.
In order to attain the object, the suction cup of the present invention has a tube section to be attached tightly at an end portion thereof to the part of the body where fat reduction is desired and sucks in the part of the body as an inside area of the suction cup is decompressed, wherein the tube section is constructed so that at least the end portion of the tube section deflects elastically into a flat shape to press the sucked-in part of the body from opposite sides thereof as the inside area is decompressed.
In the present invention, it is possible to make the tube section out of a deflectable material and concurrently provide thin portions at opposite sides of the tube section.
In the present invention, it is also possible to construct the tube section so that at least the end portion of the tube section deflects elastically into a flat and winding shape as the inside area is decompressed to twist the sucked-in part of the body while pressing the same part from opposite sides thereof.
Further, it is possible to provide a connecting aperture section on the suction cup, which is capable of being fixed to and detached from vacuum means, and provide the aperture section with a non-return valve which prevents air-flow into the suction cup after the vacuum means is detached.
In the present invention, it is also possible to adopt other methods for decompressing the inside area of the suction cup than the method of using the vacuum means such as a vacuum pump. For example, the decompressing method of bringing alcohol etc. to combustion inside the suction cup to reduce the air or oxygen therein may be adopted.
According to the present invention, at least the end portion of the tube section of the suction cup deflects elastically into a flat shape to press the sucked-in part of the body where fat reduction is desired from opposite sides thereof as the inside area of the suction cup is decompressed. Thus, the subcutaneous fat at the part of the body is dissipated effectively and excellent fat reduction can be achieved, because the subcutaneous fat at the part of the body is not only sucked in but also pressed from opposite sides under the decompression.
In the case where the tube section is made of the deflectable material and the thin portions are provided at opposite sides of the tube section, the end portion of the tube section bends easily at the thin portions where the local strength of the tube section is lowered as the inside area of the tube section is decompressed, and deflects into a flat shape as a whole. This means that the elastic deflection of the tube section into the flat shape can be realized with a simple structure.
In the case where the end portion of the tube section is constructed so as to deflect elastically into a flat and winding shape to twist the part of the body being pressed from opposite sides thereof, a twisting force is applied to the part of the body in addition to a pressing force. Thus, it is expected that even more excellent fat reduction can be achieved.
In the case where the vacuum means is used for decompressing the inside area of the suction cup and the connecting aperture section connected with the vacuum means is provided with the non-return valve which prevents air-flow into the suction cup, the non-return valve closes to maintain the decompressed state inside the suction cup when the vacuum means is detached from the connecting aperture section. Thus, it is possible to allot one suction cup to each of multiple parts of the body where fat reduction is desired, and decompress the inside area of each cup one by one using single vacuum means by repeating fixing and detaching of the vacuum means for the aperture sections of all the suction cups.